It seems like only yesterday that The Avengers drove all before it at multiplexes (possibly because it was only late April), and already we’re getting a first look at the next Marvel Studios comic book flick: Iron Man 3. So what does the debut teaser trailer, intended to whet appetites for tomorrow’s release of the first trailer proper, reveal in its 17 seconds of glorious exposition?
The answer is, not a lot that we didn’t already know (as most of it was revealed at San Diego’s Comic-Con International in July). But let’s just pretend for a second we are unaware that Iron Man has got a new suit with a lot more gold in it, that the new movie sees Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts in serious trouble, and that the villain, the Mandarin, is portrayed by Ben Kingsley. Apart from that, the main revelation seems to be that the latter’s getup features a particularly daring topknot-style ponytail.
“Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds,” reads the film’s synopsis. “When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle.
“With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?”
Iron Man 3 stars Robert Downey Jr in his fourth stint as billionaire industrialist Stark, with newcomers Rebecca Hall as scientist Maya Hansen and Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, creator of the Extremis virus. Also new is director Shane Black taking over from Jon Favreau who has said he hopes to deliver a movie that is less “two men in iron suits fighting each other”, and more like a “Tom Clancy thriller”, with Iron Man battling a real-world-type villain. Since the Mandarin at least in the comics learned his magical skills from an alien dragon, he may have his work cut out for him.
Black wrote and directed the excellent 2005 comedy noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which saw Downey Jr in top wisecracking form, so ought to be well-placed to keep the Stark one-liners coming. Can he take Iron Man possibly at the height of his popularity after his central turn in the $1.5bn-earning The Avengers to the next level?
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